


Decide On Us

by likeromeoandjuliet



Series: Short Tales of Betty and Jughead [4]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, an idea I had a while back that I somehow finished now, angsty but cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 02:15:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21979693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeromeoandjuliet/pseuds/likeromeoandjuliet
Summary: “Do you think they hate us?” Betty murmurs.The bed in the motel is uncomfortable and neither of them can sleep. The air conditioning makes a loud noise that wires them up and as they lie together, everything finally sinking in, it all feels a little less suffocation in each other’s arms, miles away from Riverdale. The weight of leaving without telling a soul, without saying goodbye to their best friends weighs heavily in their chest.“I don’t think so, Betts.” Jughead whispers. “But we’ve spent too long living for everybody else. I think we get to be a little selfish.”OrBetty and Jughead leave the minute they get their high school diploma, without telling a single soul.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: Short Tales of Betty and Jughead [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1264379
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76
Collections: 6th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees





	Decide On Us

“Have you seen Betty anywhere?” Veronica questions, finding Archie sitting on the chairs waiting for the ceremony at Riverdale High. He looks at her with a faraway look on his face, the same look that has remained since that night. The night when they promised that after high school, they would go their separate ways, sworn to secrecy over what happened. Veronica thinks that she could’ve never imagined Archie’s usually optimistic personality turning into this, but she supposed that after Fred’s death and after what they had done, she couldn’t blame him. 

The red head shakes his head. “Jug isn’t here either. Maybe they’re late.” He tells her. 

Veronica can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t feel right. That there is a reason as to why the usually punctual couple was late to their graduation ceremony. The moment of change. Where they would leave Riverdale and with it, each other. It would all be over. 

“Their parents aren’t here either.” Veronica says looking around. 

“Maybe they’re late.” Archie repeats, in the same monotone voice he’d been known for as of late. Veronica ignores the sting she feels, as she stares at the boy she fell in love with when she moved to Riverdale. It had seemed so simple back then. Now it made her ache, made it hard to breathe. Suffocating.

The ceremony starts. Betty is supposed to make a speech. She doesn’t. In fact, she never shows, neither does Jughead. Veronica always pictured her graduation ceremony to be a happy occasion, more so in the past few years. It doesn’t. It feels like saying goodbye forever to people she’s loved, to a previous life. She also imagined her core four posing for a picture with grins on their faces, ready to start their lives in New York for college. Betty and Jughead aren’t there, her and Archie aren’t officially broken up, but it feels worse than heartbreak. It’s so fucking backwards, she feels like throwing up when they call her up on the stage to get her diploma.

When the whole thing ends and Veronica feels ridiculous in a blue cap, she goes up to Archie, his mother hadn’t been able to make it to his graduation due to a trip to Chicago and Veronica’s aches even more at the thought. She thinks about Fred and she thinks of what she’s about to lose. And it’s so overwhelmingly sad, she doesn’t know where to turn to because Archie won’t hold her and she doesn’t really want anyone else. So, she finds a task. 

“Let’s to go their house.” Veronica says, tears blurring her vision as Archie wordlessly follows her to his truck. “Do you think they left?” She dares to question quietly once they’re inside the truck. Archie looks ahead, unable to look at her and starts the truck without answering her question. The silence tears her apart.

FP answers the door with this sort of broken look on his face that makes them wish they could turn back time. There’s a bottle of whiskey in his hand. “They aren’t here.” He says, making room to let them in. Jellybean is sitting on the couch, curled up in the corner. “Alice is upstairs.” 

“They left?” Archie asks. 

FP nods. “The truck is gone. So is all their stuff. They only said goodbye to JB, left during the night.” He sighs, sitting on the couch. 

Archie runs out the door, getting in the truck, slamming his hands into the steering wheel until they feel numb and Veronica stands still in the middle of the Jones’ house, for a minute before following him out. 

“Stop! Archie, stop it!” Veronica yells, when she sees him punching the steering wheel. She tries to stop him and after a while he stops resisting, allowing her to hold him against her, sobbing in her arms as she cries silently, trying to calm him down. 

“How did everything get so fucked up, Ronnie?” He cries and she runs her hands through his hair. 

“I don’t know, Arch, I don’t know.” 

The next day Veronica leaves to a place she doesn’t tell Archie about and Archie moves to Chicago with his mom for college. So it goes, the world is ever changing.

•

“Do you think they hate us?” Betty murmurs. 

The bed in the motel is uncomfortable and neither of them can sleep. The air conditioning makes a loud noise that wires them up and as they lie together, everything finally sinking in, it all feels a little less suffocation in each other’s arms, miles away from Riverdale. The weight of leaving without telling a soul, without saying goodbye to their best friends weighs heavily in their chest. 

“I don’t think so, Betts.” Jughead whispers. “But we’ve spent too long living for everybody else. I think we get to be a little selfish.” 

“Did we lie to them?” She questions, looking up at the love of her life. “I could never leave without you. You’re my lifeline, Jug.” 

He places a kiss to her head. “I could never leave without you either. We need to stop thinking of that. We deserve to be happy.” 

“I wish things could be different.” She tells him quietly. “But we have each other. Always.” 

They finally get to Boston, the next day. And the apartment they had found is small and old, but it’s enough for now. They’re both going to college. Betty is going to law school, Jughead majoring in Education. It had been something he found himself wanting more and more, offer kids the support as a teacher that he never had, shaping people’s minds, mentoring them. They were both working part time jobs and they had scholarships. The money Betty had gotten back from her mother, the money her mother had taken away from her was back in her pocket, in her bank account so they were secure enough to be independent, not incredibly comfortable, but enough to live and even if they weren’t, they’d find a way to make it work. They had to. They didn’t want to go back to Riverdale. 

“We deserve this right? Leaving ?” Betty questions quietly, seating on their beat up couch, wrapped up in Jughead’s arms. 

“We do, Betty.” 

•

Sometimes Betty will go to bed so the hunger passes, near the end of the month. Jughead will be working the night shift at the bar and she’ll go bed because she knows they don’t really have enough money for food the next week so they’ll have to make do of all they have at home, so she can’t waste any. Some months are better than others. Some months they’ll go out to eat once, when either of them have a bonus for an article, something they still do, for the money. They’ve both been freelancing and it’s not easy. Balancing school, internships, work and freelancing is complicated and sometimes, Betty misses Jughead even when he’s next to her on the couch. 

They had gotten married, still in Riverdale and it had been anything but romantic, but Jughead had promised her a real wedding a few years down the line. Betty told him that none of that would’ve mattered because the only people they’d want to invite to their wedding wouldn’t be there. Veronica and Archie and Jellybean and his dad maybe, if he had sobered up again. They kept in touch with JB still, she had visited a couple of times in the past few years and she didn’t hold anything against them. She realized that what they had left behind was awful and dangerous but there still some love in Riverdale, love they abandoned. 

Some days, she wonders what it would’ve been like to stay. Others, when Jughead kisses her the same way he did the first time, she feels they made the right choice, despite everything. 

Tonight is one where she wonders about the past and about a hypothetical timeline of if they had stayed, if it had all been different. Jughead had promised her he’d be home tonight, they’d have a nice dinner, maybe open the bottle of wine collecting dust on the shelf. And it’s been an hour of waiting for a phone call or a text and the food is now sitting cold at the table and she’s sat by the fire escape, indulging in a habit she hates that she picked up. The cigarette smoke fills her lungs and provides a momentary relief for the disappointment, which seems to be a constant lately. Some things were on her, some on him. And she was tired of all the things that were wrong. So tired she couldn’t even think about the good ones the past week. 

Tonight, though, tonight was supposed to be good. They were supposed to act their age and dance in the living room. Instead they’re doing this dance. 

It’s close to midnight when the door opens and she’s still sitting by the fire escape. 

“Hey, Betts.” He smiles softly, taking off his jacket. “Hey, you hear me-“ 

“What day is it today?” She cuts him off. 

“What?” 

“The date, Jughead.” 

He stills. “Shit.” He breathes out. “Betts, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He speeds towards her. She sighs, standing up and walking to the kitchen. He grabs her arm, trying to get her to stops and she yanks it out of his grasp. 

“I don’t wanna do this. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” The finality in her tone stumps him and he takes a while before following after her, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest. The feeling of her slipping away from him terrifies him to an extent that nearly drives him over the edge so he sprints to the bedroom. 

“Betts-“ 

“I’m not leaving you.” She murmurs, cutting him off. “I’m your wife. I made a vow, but I just need you to give me a little time to think right now. And I don’t wanna fight.” 

“Betty, I won’t sleep and I know you won’t either so we might as well get this out of the way.” He tells her and her head snaps towards him. 

“Jughead, I’m really fucking pissed right now and I think I’m a little too tipsy from our only expensive bottle of wine to do this.” She tells him this in the kind of hushed tone of voice that chills him. “I’ll say things I don’t mean and you’ll get angry and I don’t want to fucking deal with that right now so please for one more night, can we keep pretending everything’s fine?” 

“Betty, I’m-“ 

“Please.” 

He quiets down. “I’ll sleep on the couch.” She doesn’t dignify a response, just walks into their bathroom. And he stays in the middle of their room. 

How could he forget about their anniversary. The day that they had gotten up early, drove up to Riverdale’s City Hall and gotten married. The plans they had made over half a year before the end of the school year, when everything was chaos and they finally decided that needed to run away, leave it all behind as soon as they got their diplomas. And he had forgotten the day. 

Elizabeth Jones, his wife. His wonderful, beautiful, smart wife who loved him more than anything, who he loved more than anything was sleeping alone in their bed. He couldn’t let this happen. It was now almost 4:30 and the feeling of emptiness that resided in his chest is still aching. Pulsating in the hollowness. He needed to talk to her or he’d go out of his mind. He needed his anchor. 

Standing up from their couch, he walks to their bedroom quietly but determined to reassure her that this was nothing that time wouldn’t take care of. That they’d be fine, that they had dealt with much worse before. 

She’s awake, on her side of the bed, assigned naturally since they were 17 years old, living in a nightmare town. She doesn’t make a move, even as he kneels in front of her, she stares at him with her big green beautiful eyes he’s known his whole life. 

He takes hold of her hand, her left one, running his finger over her wedding band. He leans down to press a kiss to it. “I failed you.” He murmurs. “I have been failing you. I’ve been a terrible husband these few weeks. You are my wife and you are the best thing I’ve ever had happen to me. Even when you were just four.” He gulps, smiling softly. “I’m sorry, Betts, I’m so sorry. Tonight should’ve been a good night. Should’ve a perfect night. A celebration of us and our love. And I blew it. I’ve been so obsessed with getting the job that I took you for granted. You’re all I have. You’re my family.” He sighs, tears welling up in his eyes. “I promise this will never happen again, okay? It won’t. It’s gonna get better, alright? School is almost over and we’ll have more time. It’ll get better, okay?” 

“Did you? Get the job?” She asks quietly. 

He nods, smiling softly. “You’re looking at a high school English teacher.” 

“That’s good.” She nods. “It’s gonna get better.” 

“Yeah, it will. I’m so sorry, Betts.” 

She breathes out. “I forgive you.” She whispers. “We haven’t been talking enough lately, have we?” 

“No, we haven’t.” 

“I want my husband back.” Betty squeezes his hand. “Come to bed.” Walking around the bed to his side, he climbs in, as she turns to face him, wrapping herself around him. “Happy anniversary plus one day.” 

“Next year will be different, I promise.” He presses a kiss to her head. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you.” 

•

It does get better, gradually, especially once Betty finishes school. The effort had been worth it, Betty had finished top of her class, passing the bar with flying colors, enough that one of her teachers had offered her a job. It wasn’t easy but it was manageable, with Jughead’s teaching job and her salary, they didn’t worry about having food on the table. They can’t exactly be careless, everything has to be budgeted but they’re good. Happy and secure. There’s no panic like before, life is well on its path. 

And as always, with things on track, with them comfortable, life prepares to throw them a curve ball obviously because things could never go the way they wanted them to. 

The pain starts in the middle of the night. Betty doesn’t say anything until noon. She chalks it up to period cramps, it’s due anyway and it feels like period cramps. She gets the heat pad and settles on the couch, but it keeps getting stronger. It’s worse than period cramps. Jughead is wrapped up in grading papers before he really notices how agitated she is. When he asks her if she’s okay, she says she is but that she’s in pain and it’s just bad period cramps. It doesn’t stop him from worrying. 

At noon, she decides it’s definitely not normal and Jughead tries to stay calm as his wife orders him to get her to the hospital. Her death grip on his hand scares him, her winces and groans even more. Her face scrunched in pain as he drives as fast as he can to the nearest hospital. 

The words that escape the doctor’s mouth are earth shattering, words that change their world in an instant. 

“You’re in labor.” 

“Excuse me?” Betty screeches as soon as the words sink in. “I’m not pregnant.” 

Jughead looks between her and the doctor, paling at the realization of her words. He’d done an article on cases like this. Women realizing they’re pregnant the day they go into labor. 

“No, you don’t understand, I can’t be pregnant. I think I would’ve noticed if there was a child inside of me.” His wife laughs nervously. 

As the doctor explains to her that these situations can happen, Jughead begins to review the stories of the women he’d interviewed for the article all those years ago. Betty’s still arguably in denial as she argues with the doctor until she performs the ultrasound and then in seconds, he’s hit with the fact that he’s about to become a father in a couple of hours. He thought they’d have time to plan for this, now they’re hours away from having a little baby in their arms and he realizes that they are in no way prepared for it. Their apartment currently has no rooms available, there’s no baby clothes ready, no crib, nothing. 

“Betts...” He murmurs when the doctor leaves the room. 

“Jug!” She cries. “What the hell are we going to do?” Jughead can’t bring himself to answer her question, the only thing he does is hold her against him, sat on the edge of the bed. “How did I not notice? Jug, I could’ve...oh god, what if it’s hurt? What if I hurt our baby?”

“Betts, no, the baby’s fine, the doctor said so.” He tells her, caressing her cheek. “We’re going to figure this out.” 

“We have no choice there, do we?” Betty sniffles. “I don’t know how to do this.” 

“Betty...” 

“I know we’ve talked about kids before but I’m in no way ready to be a mom.” She shakes her head, a new batch of tears falling down her cheeks. “I’m doing great huh? I didn’t even know our kid existed until today.” She scoffs. 

“These things can happen, it’s not your fault.” Jughead says, taking a deep breath. “You’ll be a great mom, I know you will. At least if all fails, both of us know what not to do.” He smiles softly. “We can do it.” She looks at him disbelievingly. “We can. It hasn’t even sunk in that this is really happening but we can do it.” 

The wait is a strange thing. This kind of in between space and time, people usually waited nine month for a baby and they had to wait another three hours. Nine months would be torturous if the three hours are excruciating. Jughead can’t think of anything for them to talk about, not with the presence of what is happening. Everything seems so pointless to talk about. What do you talk about when you’re about to have a baby you had no knowledge of its existence an hour ago? It’s mostly silent during the time they have left until their world shifts on its axis. They make a small plan for the next day, Jughead would buy everything they’d need. The anxiety they both felt when elaborating a list, because even in labor, Elizabeth Jones was nothing if not a planner, was daunting. The reality of it all felt somewhat distant during those few hours, the planning was distracting and it was a welcome one. 

A few hours later, she’s being told to push. And Jughead, for all the times he’s seen Betty’s strength, this might be his favorite. He doesn’t know how the hell they’re going to do this, but somewhere inside, he knows they will because god knows if they’ve survived serial killers wanting to cleanse towns of sin and gang wars and insane, deranged family members and organ harvesting farms, then they can raise a baby, even if it came as a surprise. They can do it. He knows Betty will be the most loving, wonderful, thoughtful mother and he’ll his damned best to be everything their baby needs. 

They have a daughter. A beautiful, tiny, screaming daughter. His world stops and everything else feels a little insignificant when he sees his daughter in his wife’s arms. It’s not like he had never pictured it, but now what he believed to be the future was unfolding before him in the most magical way. Even the hospital lighting makes them more beautiful. Swaddled in a pink blanket, with a simple onesie provided by the hospital because they had nothing, his daughter is the sweetest, most overwhelming creature he’s ever encountered. And his wife, my god, there’s yet another proof of her bravery, soon to be walking and talking in this cruel harsh world. 

His wife falls asleep without voicing any thoughts, even if the love is evident in her eyes and he can see, despite the fear they’d felt and still feel, the elation and happiness, the same he feels. 

“Hey, Princess.” He whispers, holding his daughter. “I love you.” He smiles. “You’re quite the surprise, aren’t you? Deciding to just show up unannounced like this?” He runs a finger across her soft cheek. “I promise we’ll take care of you. We’ll love you so much, Princess.” 

•

“And what happened then...? Well...in Who-villa they say that Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day! And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight, he whizzed with his load through the bright morning light and he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he...he himself...! The Grinch carved the whole roast beast!” 

Betty leans against the doorframe, smiling as she watches her husband finishing the story excitedly to their two year old daughter, who is sleepily staring up at him. Her husband notices her presence as he goes to put the book away, an instant smile widening in his face. 

“Hey, Em? Look who’s home.” He nods his head towards his wife and Emily turns her head towards the door. 

“Momma!” Her daughter makes grabby hands at her, shaking with excitement. Betty laughs, walking to Emily’s bed. 

“Hi, baby!” She leans down to press a kiss to her daughter’s head. “Sleepy?” Emily nods. “Warm?” The girl giggles, nodding again. “Happy?” 

“Yeah, momma.” She grins. 

“Alright! I love you, Princess.” Betty kisses her nose. “Good night.” 

Jughead presses a kiss to Emily’s head, with a smile. “Love you. Sweet dreams, my love.” 

They stand up, closing the door behind them as they walk out. Betty looks at her husband, lips stretched into a smile and pulls him in for a kiss, finally greeting him. “Hi.” She whispers against his lips. 

“Hi.” He grins. 

“Sorry I couldn’t get home for dinner.” She tells him. 

“S’okay.” He pulls her a little closer, squeezing her against him. 

“I got a job offer.” She says, biting her lip.

His brows furrow. “Is it good?” 

“It’s one of the best law firms in the city.” 

“So, this is good?” 

She nods. “Your second book’s about to come out.” 

“You have a new job, better pay, I’m assuming?” 

She laughs softly. “It’s fucking great, Jug.” 

“So, the plan’s still on for the house?” He questions excitedly and she kisses his lips. “We are so getting a dog.” 

The last two years had been easier than they had expected. It had obviously been surprising, from Emily being born to Jughead getting a book deal to Betty being able to work her way up in her career. Jughead had published a novel under an alias and the book had done quite well, so they began settling into their life easily. Their priority had been their baby girl from the day she was born, fears pushed aside as they began to realize they could do it. And she was the happiest little girl in the world. Always giggling, always mischievous. Her mother’s eyes, her father’s smile and all theirs. 

“It got better.” Jughead whispers, forehead presses against hers. “It got so much better, Betts. And I never forgot about our anniversary again.” He winks.

“Asshole.” She hits his chest but the smile doesn’t vanish from her face. “Can you believe we got a surprise baby?” 

“Two years later and I’m still wondering how they let us walk out of the hospital with a breathing living child.” He jokes. “We’ve got a pretty good life.” 

“The best of lives.” She breathes out.

“I once thought I’d never escape Riverdale.” Jughead confesses. “I thought I’d be doomed. My father’s fate would be my own, no matter how hard I’d try.” He shook his head. “You made me realize that wasn’t the case and your love alone was enough to get me through everything, Betts.” 

She closes her eyes, a smile on her lips. “I love you so much, Jug.” 

•

Veronica finds them by accident. She’s in Boston for a friend’s wedding and something catches her eye in the newspaper stand. 

‘Sadistic Rapist, Brian Franklin, finally behind bars’

It’s not the headline itself, no, it is the person posing with what she thinks is the survivor. She had heard of the attacks that had happened. The man had raped and murdered five women until a girl, eighteen years old, managed to escape and report it to the authorities. The news had been nationwide. And now, staring back at her, is the face of Betty Cooper, older, with no pink sweater but a smart suit on. 

And apparently, no longer Cooper. 

Elizabeth Jones. 

And Elizabeth Jones was in Boston. Her best friend was in Boston. All this time they had been close. Veronica lives in NYC, has been there for the last five years. They had been a 4 hour drive from each other, an hour flight all this time. It’s overwhelming to say the least. The anger she had felt all those years ago had dissipated with understanding, but sadness always ached at the thought of them. 

She makes a quick decision right there, as she scribbles down the name of the law firm Betty works for. And finds the address. 

The Uber rise is fairly quick and as Veronica stares up at the big building, she feels like crying the way Archie did in his dad’s truck. But she pushes through it, she was nothing if not Veronica Luna and Veronica Luna would push through. 

“Hi, how may I help you?” The receptionist has a kind smile and Veronica lets herself she soothed by it for a split second. 

“I’m looking for Elizabeth Jones. Is she here?” She asks, clearing her throat. 

“I’m not sure, I’ll call her office. Who should I say is here?” 

“Veronica. Lodge.” 

It takes a few seconds but the nice receptionist is smiling at her again. “I’m afraid Mrs. Jones is in a meeting but her assistant says she’ll be done soon. Would you like to wait?” 

Veronica gulps, shaking her head. “No, I think I’ll just-“ 

“Veronica?” She spins on her heels to find Jughead Jones staring at her, shock evident on his face. “Oh my god!” 

“Hi?” A beat later, the sound of heels make both of them turn their heads to the side as Betty makes her way towards them.

“It’s really you.” She gapes. And the three stare at each other for a few seconds. “How did you find me?” 

“Newspaper.” Veronica stutters. “But I think I should go. I-“ 

“No.” Jughead says, shaking his head. “Stay. Right?” He questions, glancing at his wife. 

Betty nods. “Yes, we need to do this. Have dinner with us, please?” 

•

“So, then Gus was mean to Eve and he tried being mean to me but then I ‘membered what daddy said about bullies. That they’re only mean because they don’t know love. So I made him say sorry and he did. So now Gus is our friend.” 

“Breathe, baby.” Betty laughs softly, looking in the rear view mirror. 

And Veronica feels like she’s entered the twilight zone, where Betty and Jughead have the perfect life. Complete with a gorgeous and adorable, well spoken 4 year old daughter, who is an absolute delight, a chatter box and rather friendly much like her mom. 

“That’s good. That you stood up to him, Em. Good job, kid.” Does Jughead ‘I’m weird, I’m a weirdo’ Jones appear to be the perfect father? And Betty Cooper, with her hair down, looked the happiest she had ever seen her as they pull up to a house in the suburbs. Another life entirely, years later. They had run off to build themselves a life, together. 

Veronica didn’t get that. She got loneliness because her and Archie had fallen apart, were already destroyed by the time Riverdale’s very own Romeo and Juliet had managed to escape. Romeo and Juliet had changed the ending to their ill fated story. Archie had broken down in her arms and decided that from that moment forward he didn’t want to see her anymore because all he could think about was pain when he looked at her. Pushing her away effectively, she had never seen him again. At least the two of them had kept their promises, they had gone their separate ways. 

“Em, sweetie, can you go in the playroom so daddy and I can talk to Veronica?” Betty presses a kiss to her daughter’s head, as the little one shrugs off her jacket and nods. “Emily!” Betty calls out as her daughter’s about to run off. 

“Backpack!” She grins sheepishly, picking up her backpack from the floor. “Sorry, momma!” 

The three of them watch her run off into the hallway, in silence. Veronica feels frozen in her spot in the middle of their living, looking around. It’s a picture perfect home. Cozy, the walls littered with photographs dating back to high school. She even catches her own face staring back at her, her heart accelerating at the red headed boy standing next to her with beautiful grin on his face. 

She watches Betty look at Jughead as though they’re communicating telepathically. It had been the same in high school and it had always made her long for someone like that. Although her and Archie loved each other as much as the duo in front of her, it had never been like that. They really were soulmates. Connected to the very depths of their souls. 

“I’ll get some wine. And we’ll talk. Figure we’ll need it.” Jughead offers her a smile before walking away into the kitchen. 

Betty looks at her, smiling in the way Betty does and she curses herself for how warm it feels to be smiled at by her again. They sit down on the Jones’ very nice couch, in their very nice living room, in white and dark blues and signs of a house lived in. She guesses they don’t exactly make little money. Betty’s a very successful lawyer and Jughead, from what she could gather from Betty and Jughead’s small talk, is a high school teacher. They’re clearly comfortable, happy in their mundane suburban life. She could’ve imagined Betty in this kind of life clearly, but Jughead had always been a little too spunky for that, though, she can see that he fits seamlessly. The ever thoughtful husband, the doting father. To think that these two had once been solving murders, leading gangs, helping her cover up a murder was insane in every single way. She guesses no one knew about their past here, that they had truly escaped it. 

“You said you found me on the newspaper?” Betty clears her throat, attempting to break the ice. 

Veronica nods. “I did, yes. The rapist case, I think?” 

“Right.” Betty breathes out. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting this. I just- I don’t-“ 

“It’s okay. It was a bad idea. I should’ve just let you do what you decided to do. Let the past go.” The Latina sighs. 

In Betty’s face crosses the guilt she feels, fleetingly. “We needed to. I don’t think either of us would’ve survived if we hadn’t. There was just so much...pain.” 

Jughead walks in at that moment with three glasses of wine. He places them in the coffee table before sitting next to his wife, his arm wrapping around her. A united front, as always. 

“How are you, Veronica?” Jughead questions. 

“I’m doing okay. I’ve been in New York mostly. I plan events.” 

“That’s good.” Jughead smiles. He seems gentler, softer in ways he hadn’t when he was younger. You couldn’t tell that this man used to be a gang member. He was probably just Mr. Jones now, English teacher, with a beautiful wife and adorable daughter. 

“You guys seem well. Emily’s beautiful.” 

“It was...hard to get here but yeah, it’s a real life. Better than what we’ve known.” Betty tells her with a frown on her face. “We regret it.” Jughead takes hold of Betty’s hand as she begins to get choked up. 

“What?” Veronica murmurs. 

“Not telling you.” Jughead completes it. “We should’ve told you and Archie, we just...I don’t know what we were thinking then. It felt right, to just leave and it was, we just...” 

“We should’ve told you. It was selfish.” 

Veronica sighs. “I was angry for a long time. At you. For leaving me without saying goodbye but I understand now. You needed to go. And we made a promise that night.” The tension rises at the mention of that night. “We’d go our separate ways. I was the one that made that mistake. I was the one that made us-“ 

“Ronnie.” Jughead interjects. 

“It was my fault. He was trying to kill me.” Her voice is a hushed whisper. The memory never less daunting. “I dragged you into it.” 

“No.” Betty says sternly. “What we did was help our friend. All Archie did was save you.” 

“He went too far.” Veronica’s voice breaks. “He didn’t stop.” Silence takes over. “Even when we yelled at him to stop. We tried to pull him away.” 

“Ronnie, he did what he had to do to that bastard. He hurt you, I was ready to go in myself.” Betty hisses. “We did what needed to be done. Hiram had everything under his control, we would’ve never made it out of that town. It wouldn’t have been self defense.” 

Veronica buries her face in her hands. “I’m sorry.” 

“So are we, Ronnie.” Jughead says with a solemn look on his face, Betty holding his hand. “What about...Archie? Do you know where he is?” 

Veronica shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. “The day you left, he told me he never wanted to see me again. I don’t know where he is.” 

Betty breathes out, sniffling. “Was it us? Did we break you apart?” 

“No, B, no. It was just...everything and yeah, that day... it was the final straw.” Veronica tried to stop herself from crying, she’s dealt with everything by not thinking about it, about them, about everything and now she was right there, in front of them. “We went by your house. And he broke down and then I never saw him again.” 

“I hope he’s okay.” Jughead murmurs with a heartbroken look on his face. “If you want, Ronnie, we can give you our phone number and we can talk? Whenever you want, if you want to. We want you to be apart of lives again.” 

Betty rubs Jughead’s knee, smiling softly. “We should’ve tried to get in contact with you. So, we want you back. That is if you’ll take us back.” 

Veronica stares at them. She once believed wholeheartedly she couldn’t live without these people but she had proved to herself that she could. But that wasn’t the point, the point was that she wanted them. She wanted Betty’s girl talk and she wanted Jughead’s conspiracy theories, she wanted to be apart of their happy life. She wanted dinners with her friends and birthdays and Christmases if they’d let her, god knows she hasn’t had a Christmas ever since high school. So, taking a deep breath and allowing herself to smile, she nods. “I’d like that. I’d really like that.” 

With that, Betty leaps from her spot to hug Veronica and the relief she feels gives her feelings she thought she had lost. And a little bit of happiness is restored in her heart. 

“You have a kid.” Veronica laughs softly when they pull away. 

Betty chuckles with a nod. “I know. Hard to believe how fast time passes.” 

“I’m happy for you. I’m happy you guys got your happy ending.” 

“It was a new happy beginning, not an ending. We can rebuilt, Ronnie. All of us can do that.” Jughead tells her with a smile. Veronica can see the change in him, he’s softer, more vulnerable, unafraid to voice his feelings and Veronica only wants his words to be real. “I should go start on dinner, you’re staying, right?” 

Veronica nods. “Yeah, I’m staying.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! Hope you like this! This will be a two part little series! We still haven’t gotten to one Archibald Andrews! Tell me what you think please! 
> 
> All the love xx


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